When there is a pedestrian or some other object in the area on the side of a vehicle opposite the driver seat that tends to be a blind spot from the driver seat, drivers are often unaware of it. Therefore, a technology for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle has been described in Patent Document 1 in which the driver of the vehicle is notified of the presence of an object near the vehicle in the blind spot from the driver seat immediately before departure. The technology for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle in Patent Document 1 includes an onboard camera for viewing the surroundings of the vehicle in the blind spot from the driver seat, motion detecting means for detecting the presence of an object moving around the vehicle, and vehicle departure detecting means for detecting that the vehicle is about to depart. When it has been detected that the vehicle is about to depart, and the presence of an object moving in the blind spot has been detected by the motion detecting means, images of the blind spot area taken by the onboard camera are displayed.
Also, in Patent Document 2, there is described an apparatus which determines the level of possible contact with an obstacle detected by a surroundings detector for detecting the presence of an obstacle surrounding a vehicle using a possible contact level determining process, and provides information based on the determined level of possible contact to alert the driver before departure or around the time of departure. In addition, this apparatus drives a brake actuator and throttle actuator to prevent departure of the vehicle based on the possible contact level determined by the possible contact level determining process.
Also, in Patent Document 3, there is described a driver assistance apparatus in which a moving object in the surroundings of a vehicle is detected via imaging means when the entry of a driver is detected from verification of an unlocked door based on the signal status of a door switch, and from verification of the driver sitting down based on the signal status of a seat sensor. In this driver assistance apparatus, when driver entry has been detected, a moving object in the surroundings of the vehicle is detected via the imaging means and stored as a captured object. When it has been detected that the driver is about to drive off in the vehicle, a moving object in the surroundings of the vehicle is detected via the imaging means. As a result, when a moving object in the surroundings of the vehicle detected from the start of driving is different from the captured object in storage, the driver is alerted.
Similarly, an apparatus for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle is described in Patent Document 4 in which entry of a driver into a vehicle is detected, and obstacles surrounding the vehicle are monitored. This apparatus includes first detecting means for detecting whether a passenger (driver) is about to enter the vehicle, second detecting means for detecting whether the passenger has entered the vehicle, surroundings monitoring means for monitoring the surroundings of the vehicle, and notification means for notifying the passenger of the monitoring results of the surroundings monitoring means. First detection results from the first detecting means are received, the surroundings monitoring means is activated based on the first detection results, second detection results from the second detection means are received, and a passenger is notified by the notification means of the monitoring results from the surroundings monitoring means based on the second detection results.
As described above, the apparatus for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle in the prior art provides information related to obstacles present in the surroundings of a vehicle which impede travel of the vehicle only after the driver has entered the vehicle, sat on the seat, and started to operate the vehicle. In the apparatus for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle in Patent Document 4, the driver is notified of the situation surrounding the vehicle at an earlier stage than the other art which do not indicate the situation surrounding the vehicle until the driver has started to operate the vehicle. However, even in this case, notification is not received until the driver has sat down on the driver seat. Therefore, when it is necessary to verify the presence of an obstacle and to remove that obstacle, the driver has to get out of the driver seat and the vehicle to verify the presence of the obstacle.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2007-182117 (Paragraph Nos. [0002]-[0008], FIG. 5)
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2002-269697 (Paragraph Nos. [0002]-[0021], FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2008-213735 (Paragraph Nos. [0033]-[0048], FIG. 3)
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2005-115853 (Paragraph Nos. [0006]-[0016], FIG. 2)